Form 4C
by Nathaniel Cardeu
Summary: Struggling with the bureaucratic nightmare that is an application form, Neville is rescued from his headache by a friendly face from the past.


A/N Short, fluffy, mildly amusing in places; this was a one-shot inspired by a meme about how the different Houses at Hogwarts would flirt. Enjoy!

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Replacing the quill in the inkpot, Neville rubbed his forehead, a low-grade headache starting to build behind his eyes. "This doesn't make any sense to me," he muttered, shuffling the pages and trying to follow the complicated bureaucratic maze that spread across 10 sheets of parchment.

He glanced around, expecting to see the staff looking at him, talking behind their hands, laughing at him. He flushed slightly, even though no one was paying the slightest bit of attention to him. He knew they were judging him; he had been trying to fill the form and its associated appendices out for the last four hours, and the office was going to close soon. He was never going to get his license at this rate!

"Okay, 4C… name, address, blah blah blah. That bit's all fine. Education, done. Finances… see Appendix B…" He glanced around again, just to try and catch one of the officers out. He turned to look behind.

A small blonde woman was stood at his shoulder.

"Merlin, Luna!" Neville choked out, almost falling off his chair in fright. "Where did you come from?"

"Hi, Neville!" she said brightly, not perturbed by his reaction in the slightest. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine, thanks," he said, clambering to his feet and embracing her. I haven't seen you in years… What's it been? Three? Four years since the battle?"

"Six," she murmured into his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist.

"Six years? Wow…" He blinked in surprise. "Has it really been that long?"

She nodded, her cheek resting on his chest. Her fingers lightly stroked across his back, rubbing the tense muscles near his spine. "I think everyone is doing okay though. Harry and Ron have been by to say hello. They both graduated from the Auror training camp, though I get the impression that Ron's a bit jaded with the system already."

"Really, how come? He was up for being an Auror right from the start." He could feel the tension leaking out of his back under Luna's probing fingers; she seemed to be finding all the knots he had worked up over the last four hours, hunched over this desk, and it felt wonderful.

"I think the paperwork is getting to him."

He could hear the smile in her voice, even though all he could see was the top of her blonde head. He laughed. "Well, working hard is one thing, but homework was never Ron's forte."

"It feels like you work hard though, Neville. I guess helping Madam Sprout rebuild the greenhouses at Hogwarts built you up?"

Neville's eyes widened abruptly. How long had he been hugging her!? He hadn't seen the girl in six years and here he was… He was acutely conscious of every curve of her; even though she was still petite, she had blossomed in a couple of noticeable ways. She grew breasts, Neville, he thought with frustration, not blossomed… Oh, Merlin, that sounded like it came right out of one of Nan's cheesy romance… AND YOU'RE STILL HOLDING HER!

With a strange gurgling laugh Neville gripped the tops of Luna's arms and almost pushed them apart, noticing the disappointed pout on Luna's lips. "Yes, well… couldn't use magic to rebuild those greenhouses, for the most part." He tried to get the nervous tremble out of his voice but knew he was failing miserably.

She perked up, head tilting to one side. "Is that because of the over spillage?"

"Yes, I don't fully understand it myself." He dropped into the chair, trying to ignore the warm feeling in his groin and the increased sensitivity their overfamiliar hug had produced. "Something to do with the damage sustained, and the magic done over the many years. It had to go somewhere, and it liked going where there's more of its kind."

"That makes sense," she said thoughtfully, pulling up a chair opposite him and dropping down into it. She rested her chin on her hand, staring at him thoughtfully. Her eyelids drooped slowly to briefly cover the intensely blue eyes, and a small smile lifted one corner of her mouth. "The last thing you needed was excess magic dancing around you when you're lifting large sheets of glass and wood!"

She started to giggle, rocking in her chair as her laughter increased, and Neville felt himself smile; he could tell something had tickled her mind, but he couldn't for the life of him imagine what she could see in her head. Whatever it was, it was clearly hilarious, because she was almost screeching with laughter now! Other people in the building were starting to look and Neville felt a flush building around his neck.

"So," Luna said, wiping her eyes and still chuckling to herself, "you were worried about not getting your license. Is it something I can help you with?"

"Well," Neville stammered, his face still burning, "I just struggle with complicated forms… wait, how did you know that's what I'm doing here?"

Luna blinked and remained silent for a moment, tilting her head from one side to the other, her brow furrowed. "You look a little warm, but you have very nice eyes; are they dark blue, or green would you say?"

"I… uh…" Neville jumped slightly as Luna abruptly stood and moved around the table, dropping down into the surprised man's lap. "What…?"

"Sit still and tilt your head back," Luna said, nodding in satisfaction as the surprised man complied automatically. She brushed his fringe away from his eyes with a gentle hand, staring intently, a small knowing smile on her lips. "They're like the ocean on a stormy day, before the clouds break. They suit you."

Neville couldn't think of anything to say, desperately trying to stop his face from bursting into flames; he could feel his cheeks tingling with the sudden suffusion of blood. He made some incoherent noises that didn't make any sense to his ears, but Luna nodded.

"I think I saw some Wrackspurts floating around in here earlier. They make paperwork more complicated."

"Uhuh," Neville breathed, his senses muddled by the warmth of the woman in his lap, her large blue eyes that were hypnotising him almost, and the smell of her perfume; a strange mix of fresh scents that reminded him of the sea. "So… uh…"

"Oh, yes," Luna said, hopping out of his lap and dragging a chair up, "happy to help. That's what I'm here for, after all."

He noticed then the name badge, pinned to her lapel. "Oh, you work here?"

She hummed an affirmative, suddenly all business, eyes serious as she shuffled the papers. "Okay, I can see why it's not making sense here, Neville."

"Oh Merlin, what did I do wrong?" he moaned.

"Well, it would have been nice to go to the Yule Ball with you, but I suppose we weren't friends at that point, were we?"

"S-s-sorry?"

"That's okay. You looked very nice though, and Ginny said you danced well and only stepped on her toes once. But you're missing a page; that's why this form can't be completed."

She pointed to one of the sheets in the middle of the pile and Neville could see it related to Form 4D. He slumped back in his chair, cursing his stupidity for not noticing such a simple mistake.

"Don't beat yourself up, Neville. It wasn't your fault that this form got mixed up. Whoever was putting the forms together clearly got this one wrong and slotted the wrong sheet. I'll have to have a word with them later to make sure they pay more attention. I'll just get the correct sheet for you."

Neville watched the smiling woman skip away to the back office. He grinned at her carefree nature and was pleased to see other members of staff smile and nod to her as she passed or called out a greeting to them. She seemed popular here and he was glad; he knew only a little of what Luna had gone through at school, but knew that she had been teased by her Ravenclaw Housemates. It upset the kind-hearted man to know that such a gentle, free spirit had been almost bullied by those that were supposed to be her primary support network at school. More than ever he was glad that he had become her friend, resolving to be better at staying in touch with her.

He couldn't stop the happy smile as he watched Luna skip back across the office floor and plopped down next to him. "You're enjoying your job then?" he smiled.

"Oh yes, it's surprisingly good fun! Mainly organising and paper shuffling, but everyone here's quite nice. It's not what I want to do long term, but it's helping me to save up some money for my expedition. Here's the correct page."

"Thank you," Neville said, seeing that the new sheet fitted much better amongst the others. "That makes more sense! I don't feel like such a dimwit now."

Luna gave a light, tinkling laugh. "You're welcome, Neville. Glad to help."

She stood to go but Neville surprised her by reaching out and catching hold of her hand. He was surprised himself but quickly rallied. "Luna, do you want to… I mean, if you're not… Well, if you don't have any plans after work, that is… get a drink? Maybe something to eat?"

"I'd love to," she cried enthusiastically, throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a peck on the cheek. "I'll meet you outside. I finish at five." With that, she was gone, skipping away and humming happily.

His heart strangely light, Neville turned back to the desk and filled out the new page. As he was waiting to be seen by the clerk he thought about Luna and her comment about an expedition. He was supposed to visit Asia next year, travelling to meet one of Pomona's contacts in the city of Bacolod in the Philippines, to collect a rare magical plant that they were hoping to transplant to Hogwarts. Maybe Luna's expedition was of a similar nature, though most likely fauna related. He wasn't averse to spending more time with her if she wanted some company. He'd ask her about her plans when they went to dinner.

"Good afternoon, sir. Everything okay today?" asked the clerk behind the desk, hand out to take the completed form.

Neville grinned, handing the document over. "Yeah. I think everything's going to be great, actually."


End file.
